


it goes in one ear (and right out the other)

by quietgalaxies



Series: ain't no rest for the wicked [1]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Daemon Feels, Gen, Implied Relationships, i just really like daemons.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-17
Updated: 2019-11-17
Packaged: 2021-02-07 16:11:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21460840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quietgalaxies/pseuds/quietgalaxies
Summary: when souls reside outside the body, fear changes.
Series: ain't no rest for the wicked [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1550917
Comments: 17
Kudos: 154





	it goes in one ear (and right out the other)

**Author's Note:**

> i had to get this off my phone... my tumblr is @exaaltiora. talk to me about daemons and the vast
> 
> title is from “in one ear” by cage the elephant.

Jon has a raven daemon. He’s quiet and so black that the light bends around him in the dimly lit archives. Most of his time in the archives is spent on Jon’s shoulder, the birds size dwarfing his head. When he opens his beak to speak, it is to ask a question or state the obvious. During statements, he simply watches and fills in any time a daemon starts speaking.

—

Martin’s coatimundi is often mistaken for other things. Raccoon, lemur, housecat, etcetera. She takes this in stride and just laughs softly whenever someone asks “what ARE you?”. Martin stutters and apologizes, but his daemon simply takes up space and isn’t afraid to do what needs to be done.

—

The pitbull that is always around Tim’s heels is charming, in as many ways as possible. He has light brown eyes and white spots in his brown fur, and it seems his tail is constantly wagging. After Danny (who had a german shepherd, a nice match, his best friend), he simply bares his teeth at whoever comes too close.

—

Sasha and her blue jay are never seen without each other. He flutters around her hair, inspects her clothing and is always chatting away with another daemon or deep in thought. They are often finishing their own sentences, and investigate in tandem.

The-thing-that-is-not-Sasha doesn’t have a bird daemon. It has a large moth which never utters a word. When Melanie asks about Sasha with the witty blue jay, Jon stares.

—

Melanie fits well with her bobcat. He hisses, growls with fervor – we are not to be fucked with. She does the talking for the two of them. They are a duo, and refuse to be confined. The bullet goes straight through his ear, into her thigh. 

—

Fear is a snake, a therapist once told her. It slithers up to you without making a sound and poisons your mind. Her mongoose had snorted loudly, and Georgie agreed. They have a better tolerance for distance in their bond than most people, and there are no snakes whenever Georgie is near.

—

Her barn owl isn’t the largest animal in the world. They compensate by watching and understanding both cases and people. When she gets forced into the job at the Archives, Basira finally has time to read up on everything she can find. Daisy has been covering her blind spots long enough. She need to be productive and her daemon simply watches the entrances when she gets too focused on her work. No one will get the jump on her again. 

—

With her new partner, she finally found out the reason why her daemon had to be big and intimidating. Basira’s owl can sit on wolfhound shoulders, and Daisy can protect them. She had thought she was meant only for hunting, and nothing else. Now, it is obvious that she’s a guard dog. 

—

Gertrude Robinson was a short woman. Her daemon was a small bird. After fifty years of being The Archivist, you’d think she’d be tired of people ridiculing both those things. A shrike does not mind being underestimated by a mouse, and Gertrude doesn’t mind being underestimated by the entities.

—

Gerard Keay blinks in surprise when he’s summoned through the book. Instead of two bullheaded hunters with growling predators behing them, he sees his own daemon. But on another mans shoulder. Except that, no, his dear raven was never that large. 

Mary Keay, on the other hand, does never see something like her own daemon after her death and subsequent inclusion in the book. Vultures only flock around carcasses worth eating, and Mary went rotten a long time ago. 

—

He always thought bloodhound was an unfair naming. Why is a gentle and dilligent dog named after their original breeding purpose? You never see asthma-dog or doorbell-dog. Although it was a rather fitting daemon for Adelard, because he was also unfairly named. Detective of the Beholding was always a thankless role. 

—

There are many different kinds of elk, and Jørgen spent a good part of his teenage years researching every single species. His parents informed him that they could just take him to a professional who could name her species for him, but he refused. When he finally came to a conclusion, he had honed his skills at collecting information and resources to a fine point. She never really liked the tunnels but for prey, safety comes first. 

—

Cows with two heads used to be regarded as messengers of evil. They think that is fitting. Breekon and Hope were not meant to be separated, so when Daisy’s wolfhound bites a head clean off the cow, one man disappears, but both are dead. 

—

Elias Bouchard had a beautiful russian blue, with clear blue eyes and a distinct lazy streak. The current head of the Magnus Institute does not have a cat daemon. 

—

There are many solitary animals, but Peter Lukas has always felt most at home at the sea. His giant squid ensures that he never leaves shore for too long. They are severed, of course, but he is never as lonely as when he is only a few kilometers away from his soul.

—

Before her transmogrification, Jane Prentiss had a red butterfly daemon. It was never properly seen after the worms appeared. Martin swears that he saw it in his peephole once, crawling through a hole that used to be an eye. 

—

Michael used to have a large dog, all sources confirm. Exactly what kind isn’t vital information. They are absolutely sure he was settled. First time Sasha sees him, he has something close to a large greyhound with legs that are too long. Next time, it is some sort of mutt - “more bones then dog” and the next meeting, Jon can’t say which animal it is. He just knows that it is not a dog. 

—

After the third statement citing a spry old man named Simon Fairchild in horrible experiences, Jon snaps. “How, in the entire living history of fuck, do you get a leopard seal to skydive?” 

—

The-thing-that-calls-itself-Nikola Orsinov didn’t only take a name from its creator. A chimpanzee with fake eyes, stitches in its fur and noticable plastic in neccesary parts of its anatomy is not a daemon. That doesn’t stop it.

—

A liger is a mix between a lion and a tiger. It’s powerful and is the definition of an apex predator. Hybrid animals aren’t very common as daemons. Jude couldn’t tell you why, and doesn’t really care, either. But having the largest feline on earth as a daemon sure as hell makes her special. She just wishes Agnes could see that too. 

—

Maxwell Rainer and his daemon make an odd couple. Gertrude always used to insinuate things about his loyalty to his entity, which he always answered in the same way; explaining that all spiders don’t spin webs, and that tarantulas are one of those. “Who said I was talking about that? She has eight eyes.” 

—

The head of the Magnus Institute has a small king cobra daemon. Sometimes, an apparition of a grey cat can be seen by his feet, vanishing after a blink of an eye. Mostly, the cobra stays on his shoulders and could be mistaken for sleeping, if it wasn’t for the constant observing eyes. The solid weight is the only thing Jonah misses in his abandoned body.

**Author's Note:**

> list of daemons:
> 
> jon: northern common raven named oden. named after the norse god of knowledge and war.  
martin: coatimundi named lemuela. hebrew name meaning devotion. he sometimes calls her lemmie, which she doesn’t like.  
tim: pitbull named vivaan. indian name for first ray of the sun. (because hes my sunshine)  
sasha: blue jay named mimer after norse guardian of the well of knowledge. also, she literally gets mimed later.  
not!sasha: you know that moth in silence of the lambs? that. not!mimer.  
melanie: lynx. she just calls it bobcat, but the given name is callan. celtic for warrior, strong in battle.  
georgie: indian grey mongoose named themba. south african name that means trust.  
basira: eastern barn owl named maryam. islamic name for sea of bitterness.  
daisy: wolfdog mix. approx 75% wolf and mix with husky/german shepherd named fenris. once again, after norse mythology. a large wolf that has to be bound because the gods are scared of it.  
gertrude: great grey shrike named shiva, after the hindu goddess, the destroyer and the fertilizer.  
gerard: little raven named hugin after odens collector bird.  
mary: indian vulture named freke, old norse for ”the ravenous” or ”the greedy”  
jørgen (YES MY HEADCANON DEMANDS HIS NAME IS SPELT SCANDINAVIAN): technically has a moose. british english calls moose->elk, and the norweigan way of calling it would also be elk. he has, of course, an eurasian moose. it would not be hard for him to find this out, but i think jørgen would pride himself on doing the research himself.  
peter lukas: giant squid named   
jonah: king cobra named heimdall. heimdall is the one that sees, hears and know all in norse mythology. hehe.  
og elias: a russian blue named helena. she was also but a pawn in a larger game.  
maxwell rainer: a tarantula named nyx, after the greek goddess of night and darkness.   
jude perry: liger named winston. winston churchill was a mass murderer.   
simon fairchild: leopard seal called aether, after the ancient greek deity of upper sky.


End file.
